Mistakes and Successes
by just.a.blue.jay
Summary: James manages to convince Remus to help him finally get Lily Evans. But when Remus makes a mistake, will the plan fall to shambles? Oneshot.


"Moony, please! Please! You _have _to do this for me! I'll do anything you want!"

Remus rolled his eyes at his mate's incessant pleasing. James was planning yet _another_ way to win over Lily Evans, and he required Remus' help.

"James, I don't think-"

"I'll buy you chocolate!"

_That_ got Remus' attention.

Remus slowly turned to face James, whose face was now glowing with hope. The plan could only take place if Remus agreed. And it looked like he was close to agreeing.

Remus bit his lip, considering the offer. "How much chocolate?" he asked, hesitant to give in. But it was _chocolate_...

"Five boxes of your favorite."

Remus took a sharp intake of breath. _Five? _Of his _favorite _kind? That stuff was rather expensive... James must really be desperate.

"Fine, deal," Remus finally said.

James jumped up from where he was sitting on his bed in the dormitory and loudly "WOO-HOO"ed, triumphantly punching the air with his fist. He ran over to his sandy-haired friend and tightly hugged him, lifting him off the ground.

"Thank you! Thank you, Moony!" James yelled excitedly.

Remus tried swatting James' hands away. "Yeah yeah, now let me go, Prongs!" Remus said in a faux irritated voice as he rolled his eyes amusedly. James laughed but released him.

James Potter really was one of a kind.

* * *

"And now, we welcome our teams! The clever Ravenclaws and the brave Gryffindors!" Remus, the Hogwarts Quidditch commentator, bellowed into the microphone. He grinned as his voice echoed around the grounds, almost drowned out by the loud cheers of the Hogwarts students.

James flew onto the Pitch with the other Gryffindor players. His hazel eyes scanned the audience for a particular redheaded beauty. He beamed when he spotted Lily Evans sitting in the stands with her two best friends, Thalia Jones and Alice Prynn. He threw her a charming smile and felt his heart flutter when she responded with a small smile of her own. _Maybe this could be my lucky day_, he thought to himself.

"Welcome, students and staff, to the second Quidditch match of the year! Today - Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw!" Remus yelled.

He gulped when he remembered what he was to say next. As if he knew what he was thinking, James sent him a sharp look, reminded Remus to stick into their plan.

"But first, I must say one thing," Remus said, wincing a bit. Just because he had agreed to help James didn't mean he was enjoying it.

"Lily Evans, I think you are the most amazing girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Will you go out with me?" Remus said into the microphone.

As Remus spoke, James, who was hovering over the Pitch on his broomstick, mouthed the same words. He froze when he realized something.

Remus had forgotten to say the message was from _him__._

Out in the stands, Lily was beyond shocked. The words coming from Remus' mouth couldn't possibly be his _own_. But indeed, Remus Lupin had just publicly asked Lily Evans out.

After casting a quick Sonorus charm (since the commentator's box was far from where she was sitting), Lily stood up. Everything from her facial expression to her awkward stance just yelled _I'm uncomfortable_.

Remus sat there, waiting for a response, not realizing his mistake. The whole of Hogwarts held their breath in anticipation. The rocky relationship between James and Lily was no secret. James was madly in love with her, and was the possessive and jealous type. He was known for hexing boys who expressed interest in Lily. And right now, it _appeared_ to everyone that Remus had just asked out his best mate's crush.

"Um, Remus... I don't like you like that. I'm sorry," Lily replied nervously. "I like someone else."

Remus' eyes widened with the realization of what just happened. He opened his mouth to correct his mistake, but instead he chose to work _with_ it.

"Who do you like then?" he countered, quirking an eyebrow. It was almost as if he was challenging her.

Lily immediately flushed a vibrant red. "No one," she mumbled embarrassedly.

Al large portion of the Hogwarts population glanced at James, who was watching the scene unfold before him with rapt attention. He felt an ache in his chest at the thought of Lily being in love with someone else.'

Remus scoffed. "Lily, that's a lie and you _know_ it."

From behind Lily's back, Thalia silently placed a truth-telling charm on her friend. Lily glowed a very light blue for a moment, and then the light was gone. Although Lily couldn't see what had just happened, everyone else had. Remus smirked a bit when he saw the action.

"Now Lily, who do you fancy?" he asked once more.

"James Potter!" she yelled.

Gasps sounded around the Pitch. Realizing what she said, Lily clapped her hands over her mouth. She looked absolutely mortified.

Alice grinned and quickly high-fived Thalia behind Lily. Thalia beamed proudly. At the very beginning of the year, Lily had confided in Alice and Thalia that she was starting to have feelings for James. By now, she knew those feelings must've intensified. Thoughts of the temperamental redhead hexing her into next year popped into her mind, but she brushed them aside. She knew Lily was going to give her hell for this later, but she didn't care. _When she's married to James, she'll be thanking me_, Thalia said internally.

Remus grinned smugly and turned to look at James. The raven-haired boy was totally frozen with shock. His mouth was ajar and his eyes were big and wide.

It was silent. The staff and students were glued to their seats, waiting for something more to happen. No one moved at all. Even the Slytherins, who couldn't care less about the two Gryffindors, were waiting for the suspense to end. If it was even possible, the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes became more prominent.

After a couple moments, James seemed to recover from his shock. Slowly, as if he was approaching a scared animal, he flew over to where Lily stood. She was looking down, avoiding the eyes of everyone around her, particularly the hazel eyes right in front of her. She just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.

James dismounted his broom to stand before her. Cautiously, he tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes. They were frightened. Lily was scared of the rejection that she was worried would come.

"Is this true?" James whispered tenderly. Lily nodded.

Suddenly, a breathtaking smile broke out on his face. The wide grin caught Lily off guard.

Lily had been preparing for James to say, "I'm sorry Lily, but I've moved on." After all, he hadn't asked her out once this year. When he stopped pestering her, the two became good friends. That's when Lily realized she indeed wanted more between them.

James then did something that shocked everyone.

He kissed _Lily Evans_.

And Lily was _kissing him back_.

James Potter and Lily Evans were kissing each other.

Everyone gasped as Lily responded to James by snaking her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. James cupped Lily's cheek with one hand while the other was against the small of her back.

After a few moments, the two broke away, cheeks flushed red. James grinned widely at her.

"Lily, will you go out with me?"

The stands erupted in loud cheers as Lily said "Yes" with a huge smile on her face.

The Pitch suddenly became silent again. At that moment, Peter decided to say, "Poor Remus just lost Lily to James. He must be heartbroken." The audience just rolled their eyes at his daftness. By that time, everyone else had figured out what had gone wrong in James' plan.

Some things change, but others never do.

Remus watched the two, a proud smile on his face. James' plan failed, but_ Remus'_ worked.

_James totally owes me more chocolate for this_, Remus said to himself.

* * *

Later that night, James sat on a couch in the Heads' dorm with his sleeping girlfriend leaning against his shoulder. As he looked down at her beautiful face, he didn't care that he had broken his arm during the game and now had to wear an irritating cast for six weeks. He didn't care that Thalia and Alice had pulled him aside to give him a lecture on his imminent death if he did anything to hurt Lily. He didn't even care that he now owed Remus _six_ boxes of his favorite chocolate. None of that mattered.

He smiled contently.

Some things were more important. Some things made everything else totally worth it.

* * *

**Hi all! Just a oneshot I decided to write while I'm thinking of how to write the last chapter of MBMS.**

**Review!**


End file.
